The Tea Party is a conservative movement made up of loosely affiliated groups unified around the central principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. While most of the various groups that compose the movement agree on the Tea Party principles — limited government, fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, the rule of law and national sovereignty — they often disagree on individual tenets ...

For this week's playlist of the news, we’re using our reporters' own predictions for 2015. Kicking things off: “The Best Is Yet To Come,” by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, backed up by the Count Basie Orchestra.

Allies of both House Speaker Joe Straus and challenger Scott Turner are calling for a record vote in January when House lawmakers convene to elect their leader. Such a record vote hasn't occurred since 1975.

On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics, talk turns to Gov. Rick Perry's legacy, the continuing border surge, the speaker's race in the state House, President Obama's immigration proclamation, and more.

Requiring voters to show a photo ID has proved controversial in the federal courts, but the law is popular with Texas voters, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Texas voters favor it by a 3-to-1 margin, even though 38 percent say it decreases voter turnout.

On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics, we talked about the campaigns being run by three GOP statewide candidates, the conservative makeup of the state Senate, Wendy Davis' new book and more.

Rep. Scott Turner, R-Frisco, has not been in the Texas House for two years, but the freshman lawmaker and former California congressional candidate has his eye on the top job there: speaker. He is short of the votes he needs, but has plenty of money with which to pursue them.

Gov. Rick Perry and DPS Director Steve McCraw spoke at a June 23, 2014, news conference following a tour of a federal facility housing unaccompanied minors in Weslaco, Texas. The state is providing $1.3 million per week to step up border patrols.

While the federal and state governments squabble over what to do about immigrant children on the Texas-Mexico border, Gov. Rick Perry is scoring political points on an issue of high importance to Republican voters. His positions on related issues helped sink his first run for president in 2011.

Democrats have big hopes for an attorney general candidate named Sam Houston. They believe his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, is vulnerable because of ethical problems. Paxton’s supporters say Democrats have little cause for optimism.

James Dickey, chairman of the Travis County Republican Party (in red), and Brendan Steinhauser, campaign manager for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (in black), talked to members of the crowd at a Juneteenth celebration in East Austin on Saturday. Steinhauser's visit was part of the Cornyn campaign's efforts to reach diverse communities.

John Cornyn's campaign is actively seeking to reach diverse communities that haven’t been traditional Republican supporters, from Indian-Americans to Latinos in the border colonias. And his team is trying to use Tea Party-style strategies to do it. Democrats have two words for them: good luck.

On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics, I talked with host Jason Whitely and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy about more results from the latest UT/TT poll, Gov. Rick Perry's recent statements, and more.

The president and Congress are remarkably unpopular in Texas, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Republican officeholders and candidates are held in highest esteem by those voters right now. And voters are far more bullish on the direction of the state compared with the nation.

In 1961, a Wichita Falls political science professor became the first Texas Republican to win a statewide seat since Reconstruction. It took another 37 years for the party to sweep the other major offices. That history provides insight into the challenges now facing Democrats, and the reasons Republicans are taking the current threat to their winning streak seriously.

Texas Democrats believe wins by Tea Party candidates in Tuesday's Republican primary runoffs could turn off swing voters in November. But if Democrats can't close the deal — and they haven't for two decades — those Republicans will be running Texas.

In three statewide Republican runoff races, candidates who have aligned themselves to the right of their opponents are poised to capture their party's nomination despite fielding significant blows from their opponents, including forays into mental health records three decades old and a potentially disqualifying violation of state securities law.

Granbury resident Joe Williams (left) stands with City Council Member Rose Myers and Hood County Commissioner Steve Berry under a Lake Granbury resident's dock in the Waters Edge neighborhood on Lake Granbury's north shore. The lake is 53 percent full.

As the state deals with drought and population growth, many top Republican politicians in Texas have called for billions of dollars in spending for new water projects. A number of conservative activists worry that Republicans aren't focusing on principles like small government, private property rights and local control.

Greg Abbott, then a candidate for governor and now the governor-elect, spoke at a NE Tarrant Tea Party meeting at Concordia Lutheran Church in Bedford on Nov. 12, 2013. State Sen. Wendy Davis, who was also running for governor, spoke to veterans at Luby's in Forest Hill the day before.

Tarrant County is both the largest reliably Republican county in Texas and ground zero for Democrats’ efforts to turn the state blue. While Tea Party conservatives are gaining strength in the county's northeast region, Fort Worth Democrats say their voters are energized by state Sen. Wendy Davis's campaign for governor.

UPDATED: San Angelo's O.C. Fisher Reservoir, which after years of persistent drought is completely dry, served as the backdrop for Gov. Rick Perry's remarks Wednesday in support of a constitutional amendment to use $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund toward water-planning initiatives.

Full video of my conversation about the Tea Party with former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey; state Reps. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, and Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford; and grassroots leaders JoAnn Fleming, Julie McCarty and Debra Medina.

If Debra Medina does not run for comptroller in 2014, it will be because of a lack of money, not will. The former gubernatorial candidate said grass-roots supporters can't contribute enough funds to wage a serious statewide bid. And two of the Republicans already in the running have million-dollar war chests.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has been in office since 2002 and serves as the upper chamber's minority whip. Yet based on the political buzz, he's playing second fiddle to a relative newcomer, Tea Party favorite and conservative darling Ted Cruz.

On the latest Agenda Texas,from KUT News and the Tribune: Tea Party lawmakers helped kill a major water bill on Monday, but that's one of a small number of victories during a session many thought the more conservative wing of the GOP would flourish.